New York Fellows Virtual Program

Please join the New York State Co-Chairs, Vince Chang and Adrienne Koch for a virtual presentation by ABF Research Professor, William H.J. Hubbard.

Zoom Presentation, register to receive Zoom link.

12:30-1:30 PM.

Justice for Sale: Exposing the Hidden Markets in Civil Procedure and Finding Ways to Regulate Them Sensibly

A centuries-old lament is that justice is for sale—the rich benefit from the courts, while the poor struggle for relief. This is so, even as a thick web of constitutional and procedural rights seem to insulate the civil justice process from market forces. This book project considers the extent to which the market dynamics that describe our broader economy—buying, selling, prices, barter—exist in the domain of civil procedure, and what can be done about it.

This project offers both empirical and theoretical contributions. Empirically, it marshals a wide array of empirical evidence to show how procedural rules and court practices reproduce, rather than counterbalance, the market forces and economic inequalities that exist outside the courtroom. Theoretically, we develop the surprising insight that the market forces, if properly harnessed, can be more effective at remedying the inequities in civil litigation than traditional forms of regulation.